During the weekend we had it confirmed by Rich @ Seven Records that 'The First Two Years' will be released both physically and digitally on Monday 14th March 2011. All pre-orders of the record through the Seven Records website will automatically receive a brand new song via email. That song will be Blank Cities, which is currently in the running to appear on our second full length record which is due for release later this year. Of the four songs we already have recorded for the next record, it's the one that currently needs the least amount changed to it's current form. It's a simple, breathless melodic punk song, and listening to it takes me back to being fifteen and hearing '24 Hour Revenge Therapy' by Jawbreaker for the first time. Whereas the majority of the stuff we're writing at the moment sits heavily on the drop-D tuned, post hardcore side of the spectrum, Blank Cities serves as a bolt of simple, youthful exuberance among the more commonplace dirge. And that's no slight on the dirge, i'm all about the dirge, in fact i'll have you know that i am an otherwise forceful architect in our tireless pursuit of the dirge!
Chris Morgan wants to do another desk mix of Blank Cities before the offer of the pre-order/free download goes live on the Seven Records site, we're hoping to have a new mix by this weekend, upon reciept we will give it a once over before thorwing it over to Rich who will put the whole deal up as soon as physically possible.
So yeah, on Monday 14th March 2011, The First Two Years will be released out into the wild.
Monday 24 January 2011
Chris Callow & Colin Kersley 24/01/2011
Huge thanks to Chris for the successful shoot on Saturday. Everything went according to plan and we all had a ton of fun before, during and after the shoot. Chris is great to work with and we all look forward to working with him again in the not too distant future. The editing and production process is set to take at least two weeks, as soon as Chris sends us back the finished article i will upload it to this site.
We also had our good friend, awesome photographer and all-round good egg Colin Kersley on set throughout the shoot, taking shots that that will serve to make up(/beef up?) the contents of 'The First Two Years' CD booklet. I got a sneak peak of some of the shots he took during the recording process, and i must say that they look pretty great, even in their current, unedited, rough-cut form.
Robin will be hard at work this week doing a manner of internet duties for the band. We need to sort out youtube, bandcamp and facebook accounts, each of which i literally wouldn't have an idea where to start with. Not to mention we need to tidy up our colossal facefuck of a myspace page, even if it will only ultimately now serve to point people in the direction of this blog and our lasf.fm page. As well as all of this, he is also knocking up a thirty second preview video for 'The First Two Years' release. Just this second had a text off the man himself to say that the 'first draft' is complete, in fact. Like the other video, i will post the finished article up here as soon as possible.
We also had our good friend, awesome photographer and all-round good egg Colin Kersley on set throughout the shoot, taking shots that that will serve to make up(/beef up?) the contents of 'The First Two Years' CD booklet. I got a sneak peak of some of the shots he took during the recording process, and i must say that they look pretty great, even in their current, unedited, rough-cut form.
Robin will be hard at work this week doing a manner of internet duties for the band. We need to sort out youtube, bandcamp and facebook accounts, each of which i literally wouldn't have an idea where to start with. Not to mention we need to tidy up our colossal facefuck of a myspace page, even if it will only ultimately now serve to point people in the direction of this blog and our lasf.fm page. As well as all of this, he is also knocking up a thirty second preview video for 'The First Two Years' release. Just this second had a text off the man himself to say that the 'first draft' is complete, in fact. Like the other video, i will post the finished article up here as soon as possible.
Thursday 20 January 2011
First Video Shoot 20/01/2011
On Saturday we'll be recording our first music video. Our friend Chris Callow will be shooting it for us on location in our practice room, just off City Road. The room was the first place we ever had a full band practice, both with the original line-up with Kai, and with current four piece line-up now. Our first video in the first place we all ever jammed together. Seems entirely apt.
This afternoon will see me hand over £35 to a second hand store for a Chorus effects pedal. My first ever Chorus pedal, no less. To be completely honest, i don't actually know how a Chorus directly affects the sound of anything, but on the basis of me telling more than a few folks that i'm looking for a kind of 'Fables Of The Reconstruction'/'Reckoning' (REM) meets 'Talk Talk Talk' (The Psychedelic Furs) ethereal, dreamy sort of clean guitar tone on some of the new tracks. "You know you'll need a Chorus pedal, right?" was the common retort, therefore i've decided, quite blindly, and yet willingly, that other people know best. And £35 isn't too bad a hit, especially if it provides me with the sound i'm looking for, or at least close enough.
This afternoon will see me hand over £35 to a second hand store for a Chorus effects pedal. My first ever Chorus pedal, no less. To be completely honest, i don't actually know how a Chorus directly affects the sound of anything, but on the basis of me telling more than a few folks that i'm looking for a kind of 'Fables Of The Reconstruction'/'Reckoning' (REM) meets 'Talk Talk Talk' (The Psychedelic Furs) ethereal, dreamy sort of clean guitar tone on some of the new tracks. "You know you'll need a Chorus pedal, right?" was the common retort, therefore i've decided, quite blindly, and yet willingly, that other people know best. And £35 isn't too bad a hit, especially if it provides me with the sound i'm looking for, or at least close enough.
Tuesday 18 January 2011
Steve Lamaq 18/01/2011
Steve Lamaq (BBC Radio 6 Music) has personally tipped solutions. as one of his 'band to watch in 2011'. Cheers Steve! Check out his show:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/stevelamacq/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/stevelamacq/
The Best Laid Plans 18/01/2011
As well as the aforementioned 'The First Two Years' release due for March, we will also be releasing our second full length record this year. Currently very tentatively titled 'the goodnight vermont', all efforts are being made to see the record released digitally by October, with physical release to follow in 2012.
Throughout 2011 we will be in and out of the studio in Caerphilly with Chris Morgan (Midasuno/Accident Music). We already have four tracks down, everything is sounding great at the moment, Chris is a joy to work with and we're hugely looking forward to our following sessions throughout the year.
Writing for the second record really couldn't be going any better. Including the four tracks already recorded, we have eight full songs written and they're all sounding great. It's our first record as a four piece and things are coming together a great deal faster than they did for our debut record. Rhys' guitar melodies are blowing my mind, and Eddie's vocal abilities put my own to shame. The both of them have now been in the band for half a year and they've reinvented, revived and completely reinforced our sound. They feel like proper solutions now, no longer the new boys, i can't imagine the band without either of them. I'm pinching myself after practice, they're so good, and we're currently producing music of the likes i could only dream of having a hand in when i was fifteen. Whether these songs get heard by fifteen people or fifteen thousand people, doesn't really affect how strong i currently feel about the songs, they're each a joy and thrill to play, even to ourselves.
Songs in the running to appear on the second record include: House Of America, The Courage, Blank Cities, The Young And The Beautiful, The Goodnight Vermont, Gorgeous Horses and Lake Palmer.
Throughout 2011 we will be in and out of the studio in Caerphilly with Chris Morgan (Midasuno/Accident Music). We already have four tracks down, everything is sounding great at the moment, Chris is a joy to work with and we're hugely looking forward to our following sessions throughout the year.
Writing for the second record really couldn't be going any better. Including the four tracks already recorded, we have eight full songs written and they're all sounding great. It's our first record as a four piece and things are coming together a great deal faster than they did for our debut record. Rhys' guitar melodies are blowing my mind, and Eddie's vocal abilities put my own to shame. The both of them have now been in the band for half a year and they've reinvented, revived and completely reinforced our sound. They feel like proper solutions now, no longer the new boys, i can't imagine the band without either of them. I'm pinching myself after practice, they're so good, and we're currently producing music of the likes i could only dream of having a hand in when i was fifteen. Whether these songs get heard by fifteen people or fifteen thousand people, doesn't really affect how strong i currently feel about the songs, they're each a joy and thrill to play, even to ourselves.
Songs in the running to appear on the second record include: House Of America, The Courage, Blank Cities, The Young And The Beautiful, The Goodnight Vermont, Gorgeous Horses and Lake Palmer.
Band Biog / 'The First Two Years' 18/01/2011
Solutions are a progressive post hardcore band from Cardiff, South Wales. Formed in the Summer of 2008, the band take inspiration in both method and aesthetic from their forward thinking punk and post-punk forefathers, with the spirit and visceral intelligence of bands like Fugazi, These Arms Are Snakes, Manic Street Preachers, Hot Water Music, Kubichek and Husker Du unmistakably apparent in Solutions artistic endeavours to date. A resolute persistence and a strong DIY approach has already seen Solutions share the stage with established acts such as HOT WATER MUSIC, FUTURE OF THE LEFT, PAINT IT BLACK, THE MISFITS, SHARKS, STRIKE ANYWHERE, LEATHERFACE, PULLED APART BY HORSES and more.
As well as playing their part in some incredible live shows, Solutions have also received regular airplay on BBC Radio Wales thanks to some heavy support in the form of Adam Walton, whom the band recorded a studio session for in January 2009, and also from Bethan Elfyn, whom the band recorded a live session for as part of a BBC Introducing show.
In December 2009, the band self released their debut album, ‘Before The Roars’, to widespread critical acclaim, garnering particularly high praise in Rock Sound magazine, earning the band a ‘Hot New Music’ feature in the same issue. In June 2010, the band recorded and released four brand new tracks for a split EP with Cardiff post-hardcore quintet Goodtime Boys.
March 2011 will see the physical and digital release of a seventeen track retrospective record entitled 'The First Two Years' via Seven Records. The track listing for the release is as follows...
1) Fighting Tigers
2) The Rest Will Follow
3) I Turned To Knife Crime
4) You Can’t Outnumber A Mathematician
5) A Devil Among The Dancers
6) Where The Good Ships Go To Sink
7) Sons Of Daughters
8) Mary Anne, Come Out Tonight
9) Young Loins
10) Ghost Writers
11) Mexican Waves
12) In Threes
13) Apparatus Separator
14) A Devil Among The Dancers
15) Young Hearts
16) To Die A Pioneer!
17) Stone Cobras
Tracks 1 – 9 taken from the ‘Before The Roars’ LP, self-released in December 2009
Tracks 10 – 13 taken from Solutions/Goodtime Boys Split EP, self-released in April 2010
Tracks 14, 15 & 16 taken from the BBC Wales Introducing sessions for Adam Walton, recorded in February 2009.
Track 17 is an unreleased track from the ‘Fighting Tigers’ promo sessions, recorded in July 2009.
Tracks 1 – 13 & 17 recorded with Todd Campbell @ Skwad HQ.
Tracks 14, 15 & 16 recorded with Carl Bevan @ The Shed.
As well as playing their part in some incredible live shows, Solutions have also received regular airplay on BBC Radio Wales thanks to some heavy support in the form of Adam Walton, whom the band recorded a studio session for in January 2009, and also from Bethan Elfyn, whom the band recorded a live session for as part of a BBC Introducing show.
In December 2009, the band self released their debut album, ‘Before The Roars’, to widespread critical acclaim, garnering particularly high praise in Rock Sound magazine, earning the band a ‘Hot New Music’ feature in the same issue. In June 2010, the band recorded and released four brand new tracks for a split EP with Cardiff post-hardcore quintet Goodtime Boys.
March 2011 will see the physical and digital release of a seventeen track retrospective record entitled 'The First Two Years' via Seven Records. The track listing for the release is as follows...
1) Fighting Tigers
2) The Rest Will Follow
3) I Turned To Knife Crime
4) You Can’t Outnumber A Mathematician
5) A Devil Among The Dancers
6) Where The Good Ships Go To Sink
7) Sons Of Daughters
8) Mary Anne, Come Out Tonight
9) Young Loins
10) Ghost Writers
11) Mexican Waves
12) In Threes
13) Apparatus Separator
14) A Devil Among The Dancers
15) Young Hearts
16) To Die A Pioneer!
17) Stone Cobras
Tracks 1 – 9 taken from the ‘Before The Roars’ LP, self-released in December 2009
Tracks 10 – 13 taken from Solutions/Goodtime Boys Split EP, self-released in April 2010
Tracks 14, 15 & 16 taken from the BBC Wales Introducing sessions for Adam Walton, recorded in February 2009.
Track 17 is an unreleased track from the ‘Fighting Tigers’ promo sessions, recorded in July 2009.
Tracks 1 – 13 & 17 recorded with Todd Campbell @ Skwad HQ.
Tracks 14, 15 & 16 recorded with Carl Bevan @ The Shed.
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